Run
by Janna Silver Hawkins
Summary: One simple monosyllabic word. Nothing special about it normally. Just a regular three letter word in the English language. This time however, uttered by the last of the Time Lords, it meant the beginning of something extraordinary.


"Run."

One simple monosyllabic word. Nothing special about it normally. Just a regular three letter word in the English language. This time however, uttered by the last of the Time Lords, it meant the beginning of something extraordinary.

When the Doctor took the frightened young woman's hand in that basement, the two of them surrounded by mannequins and spoke that one word, pulling her with him and away from danger, something happened. He realized it instantly.

When she swung from that chain to save his life and that of every other person on planet Earth from the Nestene consciousness, he became even more certain. Even when he asked her to come and she told him no he wouldn't take that for her final answer. He stubbornly returned and gave her a second chance, grinning madly as she came rushing into his ship, leaving her old life behind and running headlong into the new one he offered.

When they stood on the observation deck of Platform One, watching the fragments of her planet float past, obscuring the raging orange of the sun, he realized that there was something different about this little blonde human. Something that tugged at the hearts shattered by the Time War.

When he promised her Naples and ended up showing her 1860 Cardiff instead, she didn't care. When they faced the Gelth-possessed creatures in Sneed's morgue and she showed little fear, even though she thought that they was going to die, he honestly told her that he was glad to have met her. When she said that she was too and grinned back at him, he felt one of his hearts began to heal itself just a little bit

When he miscalculated their flight and they ended up being twelve months late instead of twelve hours, she didn't yell and tell him that he had ruined her entire life. When they were trapped inside 10 Downing Street, surrounded by unfriendly aliens and she declared that she didn't care what he did just as long as it saved everyone else and that she believed in him, he felt a rush of pride at his companion's bravery and happily proved her right.

When he unwittingly placed her in danger and was forced to make a choice he nearly allowed the Dalek to escape just so he could save her. When he thought she had been killed he lashed out at the ones he felt were responsible, attempting to forget the fact that he had been the one to condemn her. When she stood between him the creature responsible for so many deaths and caused himself to see through the fury he felt towards the lone Dalek one of his hearts began to feebly once beat again.

When she brought the young man she had befriended on board he began to feel the start of something unfamiliar stirring within his hearts. He expressed this new feeling by teasing the interloper and when Adam nearly caused a terrible catastrophe dropped him at home without even as much as trying to fix what the boy had done to himself.

When Rose asked to visit her father before his untimely death he couldn't refuse her. Even when she created a dangerous paradox by saving her dad's life and thousands of people were dying all across the world he tried to comfort her, tell her that he didn't blame her, that everything would be alright. When her father destroyed the paradox by stepping in front of the car and brought everyone back, including the Doctor, he wasn't furious with her but gently led her back towards their home.

When she wandered off once again during the Blitz and came back with a dashing captain who had saved her he realized that the same feeling he had felt with Adam was deciding to rear its ugly head yet again. When he saved the world once again and everyone lived, he still needed persuasion to save the young man who had sacrificed himself. Even though he was well able to control his feelings he still felt a twinge of jealousy as Rose and Jack smiled at each other. He quickly broke them apart and swept Rose into his arms to prove to her that the captain wasn't the only one who could dance, all the while sending a glare at Jack. "Mine" it said even though he would never say those words to her.

When the routine trip to refuel his ship became a way for Rose to meet up with her boyfriend the feeling became even stronger. When everything went horribly wrong and her life was threatened by the desperate alien he saved her again with the help of his brilliant ship only for her to run away to find her boyfriend. When she came back dejected, saying that Mickey was gone he couldn't help feeling a spark of glee as he set them on a new course.

When he watched her being pulled away by the transmat beam and thought she had been disintegrated by the Anne-Droid he felt a cold furious anger towards the people who had created the deadly games and was determined that they would pay for taking his Rose from him. When he finally saw her alive once more his joy was short lived as he realized that she was the prisoner of his worst enemies.

When he flew to her rescue and held her close he started to realize what she meant to him. When the Daleks started to attack he did the only thing he could think of to protect her. He sent her home, trying to block out her frantic cries as the TARDIS dematerialized, feeling both of his hearts break all over again. He immersed himself in his work, hearing all the people who had volunteered to fight the Daleks die, committing their faces to his memory along with all the others he had seen lost. When he was the only one left and the Daleks were preparing to exterminate him he closed is eyes and waited for the shots, feeling confident that Rose was perfectly safe at home with her mother and as far away from this danger as possible. Then he heard it.

As the TARDIS' doors flew open and Rose stepped out, entirely immersed in the Time Vortex he felt his hearts stop with fear for her. He watched in awe as she systematically destroyed every Dalek and scattered the words Bad Wolf throughout time. As the power became too much for her he knew what he had to do to save her. He took her in his arms and gently kissed her, pulling every bit of the vortex from her. As he carried her into the TARDIS and carefully lowered her to the floor before sending his beautiful ship into the vortex he smiled, feeling both of his hearts beating fiercely. His Rose was safe.

When he felt the first pangs of regeneration and heard her anxious questions he tried to reassure her. As the pain worsened he looked her right in the eyes and told her that she had been fantastic, hoping that she understood the unspoken message.

He loved her. With all of his hearts he loved her. How could he not? She had saved him so many times. If he had never met her in that cellar this would have happened long ago.

As he gave her a final grin and submitted to the fire he felt confident that she had understood. No matter how he would change he'd still have these feelings for her. He could only hope that in his next body he would act on them before it was too late.

Their story wasn't over but rather beginning again. The story that had begun with a simple word.


End file.
